EU raises €20bn to boost green energy and slash reliance on Russian fossil fuels
The European Union has squeezed an extra €20bn from its carbon market for investments to slash the bloc’s reliance on Russian fossil fuels and boost green energy projects
Under a political deal reached in Brussels today, negotiators from EU member states and the European Parliament agreed to raise 60 per cent of the grants from an EU Innovation Fund.
This is an existing pot of carbon market revenue that is currently spent on nascent green technologies.
The remaining 40 per cent would come be proceeds from CO2 permit sales held earlier than planned.
The funding will go towards renewable energy, energy-saving renovations, and projects to help heavy industry decarbonise.
The EU carbon market requires power plants and factories to buy CO2 permits when they pollute.
The price of permits has surged in recent years, boosting revenues countries receive from selling them to CO2-emitting companies.
EU member states and the European Parliament all need to formally approve the deal before it takes effect next year.
EU negotiators will also attempt to strike a deal later this week regarding a broader carbon market overhaul, which is key to the bloc’s target to cut net greenhouse gas emissions 55 per cent from 1990 levels by 2030.